Today the sophomores in life skills class traveled to Maybelle Carter, a senior living community, and set up Christmas trees on each floor and in the main lobby for the residents to enjoy. This residence is just five minutes from the school and Mrs. Pam Gatling has arranged this trip each year for more than 10 years just after Thanksgiving. The students enjoy decorating the trees and engaging with the residents as they swap Christmas greetings and stories. “Pace” Fordham commented “It was good to be helpful.”

I just wanted to express a huge thank-you to everyone for the overwhelming display of generosity to make our food drive an amazing success! We delivered a van load, packed from top to bottom and from front to back, with the food to the 403 Center. Needless to say, they were astonished at the vast amount of food we were able to collect. Although this was a competition between classes, the 403 Center and the families receiving this food are the real winners. With that said, here are the final numbers: We collected a total of 2,694 items!!!! Every class donated at least 550 items, which surpassed my initial projections by a long shot! The Freshmen collected 551, the Sophomores 678, the Juniors 730 and the Seniors 735.

Just wanted to send out a note to first off thank everyone for the amazing amount of non perishable food items you have all brought in. WOW! We are just shy of 600 total items with one day left! Every class has done well and any class can still win! The Freshmen and Sophomores are neck and neck for the lead with only 8 items separating first and second place! The Seniors and Juniors are catching up quick! Tomorrow is the last day, so open up those non perishable flood gates and take your class to victory!

Our 25 member Acros team as well as hundreds of students from across the United States and Puerto Rico will participate in Acrofest 2014 on the campus of Southern Adventist University November 13-15. This year’s theme is “Take it to the Next Level.” The first two days will be clinics where teams and individuals learn new skills and culminates with the Gymnastics Extravaganza Saturday, Nov. 15, at 7 pm EST. If you cannot attend the show in person the event will be live streamed.

This is my favorite time of year; fall colors, football, a chill in the air and Thanksgiving and Christmas are just around the corner. Madison Academy has always been built around service and sharing our gifts and talents with others. This year we wanted to continue that trend for the Thanksgiving and Christmas season.

The 403 Center always gives a lot of food away at this time of year and really NEEDour help in collecting non perishable food items. So, we will be holding a class vs. class food drive and the winning class which brings in the most items will receive a class party. The deadline for this will be next Friday, November 21. Go get those cans!

I’m really excited about our Christmas Adopt-A-Family which we have done for the last 8 years. This year, however, there is a twist! Instead of adopting one family, buying gifts from their list and dropping the presents off, we thought about doing something a little more meaningful. Coach Ley and the Madison Academy Acros will be hosting a dinner and a performance for the women and children from the Women’s Nashville Rescue Mission. We will bus them up on Sunday, December 14 and serve them a Christmas meal, put on a gymnastics performance and pass out gifts. This is where we need you to help supply the gifts for these families. We have sent a sign up list to the mission, but it would be almost impossible to get a Christmas list from the (hopefully) 60-70 women and children who will be attending. So if you are willing to donate any new toys or clothes for the kids or gifts for adult women we will wrap and give them out accordingly that evening.

If you have any questions about either of the above outreach activities, please contact myself or Coach Ley. Thank-you for your support and willingness to meet the needs of others this Thanksgiving and Christmas season!

The students in 5th period library were challenged to clear up all their missing assignments. They were offered a pizza party to celebrate the accomplishment. Each day students asked how close we were to having the party. During the last week of October each student had cleared up all their missing work so a pizza party was scheduled for November 7th. Instead of going to the lunch room there was lots of pizza, plenty to drink and music and everyone enjoyed the time together and the celebration of academic success.

The Basketball season starts at Collegedale Academy on November 8 in the Jamboree for the boys and girls varsity and JV teams. Madison Academy will compete against teams from Greater Atlanta Adventist Academy, Georgia-Cumberland Academy and the host team Collegedale Academy. The games start at 6:30 EST. Scores from the Jamboree. – BoysGirls

The Sophomores and Freshmen individually met with staff members in mini academic conferences to review the data provided by the Iowa Assessment. Students and staff members together analyzed the results of the Iowa Assessment and the Cognitive Abilities Tests and academic performance. Mrs. Gatling and Chaplin Jamieson gave some class-time for students to meet in the library. Freshmen Alayna Hunt said “If I had just read it myself I would have not understood the results. I appreciated the conference with Mrs. Fuentes and the encouragement I got.” Abigail Anderson said this, “I was encouraged by the results because it showed me my grade level and what I am capable of.”

Six seniors from Madison Academy and hundreds of other students from across Kentucky, Tennessee and Alabama participated in the Tennessee Titans Learning Lab. Students were given a behind the scene look at the business side of the Titans organization that included presentations in marketing, cheer-leading, administration, media relations, community relations, team travel, equipment management, turf management and mascots.

Our students left school at 9AM and traveled to LP field and checked in and went inside the stadium and sat in the red seats. They watched a welcome message on the video board then in groups of around 80 students started learning from the professionals. Kelvin De Valle was excited to see and speak with Mike Keith, “the voice of the Titans” since he is considering a career in sports broadcasting. Dante also appreciated the time to talk with sports professionals as he considers business options after graduation. Each student also received a t-shirt and tickets to the final Titans home game against the Colts.

Our first ever online athletic store is open. The Madison Knights store is open until November 10, 2014. No orders will be filled until after the November 10th deadline. Orders will be fulfilled and delivered (or shipped) on November 24, 2014. All products can be customized to include your respective sport and/or name. Sports will decorated below the MA logo; names will be decorated on the opposing chest.